The Tears of a Friend
by Always a Bookworm
Summary: I've never seen my best friend cry... A friendship fic between Malik and Ryou. non-yaoi. No flames please! Malik's quite OOC in this.


**The Tears of a Friend**

**This one's about Malik and Ryou. It's friendship. Not-yaoi. Even if it seems like yaoi, it's not. Please leave nice reviews, and no flames please!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.**

**_Italics_ are flashbacks. I use the dub names for all the characters apart from Ryou and Malik. Okay then, on with the fic!**

The Tears of a Friend

He sags in my arms, thin shoulders shaking and shuddering. Tears run freely down his face, and for this I'm glad. He's finally letting go of all the pain and anger that he has been keeping inside of him for so long.

He's finally allowing himself to show weakness. He's finally allowing himself cry.

_

* * *

_

Malik walked nervously up to the white-haired boy.

"_Hey," he smiled, apprehensively._

_Ryou broke off staring out of the window of the helicopter to look up with a surprised expression on his face. He obviously wasn't used to people actually bothering to talk to him. _

_The Battle City Finals had just finished, and the contestants were all headed back to Domino city. Yugi and his friends were sitting together, chatting and laughing, as friends do. The Ishtars sat near them, silent and content. They weren't a particularly talkative family, but anyone could feel the happiness radiating off Ishizu. Having her brother back was like heaven on earth to her. _

_For the first part of the journey Malik spent his time sending guilty glances at Ryou, but the other boy didn't respond. He simply gazed out of the helicopter window, not talking to anyone, still as a statue. Eventually, Malik decided to just speak to the boy. The Egyptian felt the need to apologize to Ryou; out of all the people he'd hurt, Ryou was the one that he felt worse about. Ryou hadn't wanted to get involved, but he'd been dragged into this terrible mess by his vengeful Yami. _

"_Hey," the white haired teen replied softly. His voice sounded calm, but- or was it just Malik's imagination?- also slightly strained._

"_Can I sit here?" Malik asked, tentatively. Talking to Ryou was like holding a valuable china doll- you felt that it might break any second now._

_Ryou nodded, and shifted slightly along the padded bench that he was sitting on, making room for Malik._

_He sat down, and tried to phrase what he wanted to say. "A-are you all right?" he stammered, hating himself as he said this- of course the poor kid wasn't all right! Of all the stupid things to say!_

_Ryou turned his big, brown melancholy eyes on Malik. "I've been better," he murmured, with a tired attempt at a smile._

"_Look," Malik said, turning towards Ryou in his seat, wringing his hands. "I'm really sorry for what I… for what we did to you. I-'' _

"_Don't worry about it," the smaller boy interrupted._

"_But-"_

"_I said, don't worry about it," he said, with some force behind his words. Then his eyes softened as he looked at the broken Egyptian, and said gently, "I've been through worse."_

_Malik couldn't think of anything to say to that. "Oh."_

_A few minutes passed. The only sound was Yugi and his friend's chatter. They were talking about Duel Monsters, Malik realized. Didn't that topic ever get dull?_

_Ryou chuckled, and voiced Malik's unspoken opinion. "You'd think that they'd talk about something else…"_

_Malik laughed under his breath, but before he could reply, the pilot announced that they were about to land._

_Ryou stood, preparing to leave._

"_Wait," it was out of Malik's mouth before he could stop it. Ryou looked at him inquiringly. Malik flushed. "I- I'd-I'd like it if we could keep in touch, I mean, not if you don't want too, but we could be , I dunno, friends." The last word was whispered, as though it was a vain hope._

"_I'd like that," Ryou replied, and the smile he gave Malik was genuine this time. Malik felt happiness swell up inside of him. "I'll see you around. Goodbye," and with that he was gone, slipping off the helicopter silently and returning home alone._

_Malik didn't know why he wanted to be friends with the strange, shy boy that he'd met in circumstances he'd rather forget. It was probably because they were so similar._

* * *

His breath comes in ragged gasps as he sobs into my shoulder.

I hold him to me protectively- how long has it been since someone did that to him? - and wait patiently for him to run out of tears.

He will hate himself for this afterwards, I know. He thinks that crying is a sign of being weak. And that he shouldn't be weak. He thinks that he needs to be strong and brave all the time.

But he doesn't seem to realize that he's been through events that would make grown men break down and weep. He's almost too brave. Am I the only one who realizes that?

_

* * *

_

Ring Ring. Ring Ring.

"_Hello, its Ryou speaking. Who's calling?"_

"_Hi Ryou, its Malik. Its been ages"_

"_Malik, hi! Nice to hear from you. Haven't seen you in ages- how are the family?"_

"_Yeah, we're all getting along. They stood by me when no one else did, and I'm so grateful for that. -Pause- Sorry, that was kind of tactless. You don't want to be reminded of Battle City any more than I do."_

"_No, it's OK. You have to move on, and talking about it is the best way to help that happen. Speaking of which, I hear that Yugi's travelling to Egypt soon. I guess he's finally going on the trip to discover the Pharaoh's memories."_

"_Yeah, as Ishizu would say "Events from 3000 years ago are about to be set in motion once again…" whatever that means."_

"-_Laugh-"_

"_Anyway, I know this is a bit abrupt, but you're OK aren't you?"_

"-_Guardedly- What do you mean?"_

"_You know… you haven't been bothered by… Bakura recently, have you?"_

"_I-I..."_

"_Ryou? You would tell me, right? We __are__ friends"_

"…"

"_Ryou?"_

"-_whispered- Help me…"_

"_RYOU?!"_

_-Click-_

_-Beep beep-_

"_Damn."_

_-Click-_

_-Beep beep-_

* * *

The tears are slowing down now.

He looks up at me, and says, in a shaking voice, that he's sorry.

I ask for what.

And he replies, for existing. For bringing so much trouble to everyone's lives. For holding me back. For watching everyone else move on when he knows that he can't.

And I tell him that he can move on when he's ready. And that I'll always be there for him. Because we're friends.

Then I add, in a wry tone, that I sound like Téa doing one of her friendship speeches. He laughs at this. That makes me happy. He hasn't laughed in a long time.

_

* * *

_

They were all on the boat on the way to the Pharaoh's final resting place. The sun was setting, dying the sea a deep red, and reflecting onto the child's white hair. He sat, by himself, on deck, staring out to the land that was getting further and further away.

_A look of immeasurable pain crossed his face, but no one was there to see it.__ Except for a dark-skinned taller teen, with light blond hair. He walked across the deck to sit beside his friend. Neither of them spoke. They didn't need to._

_Finally Ryou spoke quietly. "I'm going to miss him. Bakura, I mean."_

_Malik nodded in silence._

_Ryou continued. "He was always there for me. He always protected me. He was like my brother."_

"_I know," Malik replied. "It was like that with me, too." He turned to look into Ryou's pale face, and his huge mournful eyes. "But we've got to try and live our lives without them. We have to move on."_

_To which Ryou replied in a whisper that was heavy with sadness. "I don't think I can."_

_Malik held out his arms, and Ryou leaned into his friend's shoulder and wept._

* * *

The only thought that crosses my mind now is, _I've never seen my best friend cry before._

_It's hard, to see the tears of a friend._

So as I stare out to the sea, with my best friend asleep on my shoulder, tears of my own trickle down my face.

**Thanks for reading! Always a Bookworm**


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